


sounds like a tuesday

by neverwinter (KingPreussen)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Mission Fic, No Spoilers, Team as Family, Temporary Serious Injury, light blood and gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 09:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10331498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingPreussen/pseuds/neverwinter
Summary: "Yes sir, I'm done!" Angus pulled the door open, revealing a pristine bedroom and his own blinding grin. "I'm excited to be joining you, sir!"Taako ushered him out and closed his door behind him, letting Angus lock it. "Yeah," he drawled in a low voice, "Reclaiming's not as fun as you think. You were on the train with us, you know how shitty it gets."---The Tres Horny Boys took to Reclaiming like ducks to water. Little Angus has a bit more trouble.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [Sounds Like A Tuesday](https://soundcloud.com/gunkoi/sounds-like-a-tuesday) (i couldnt think of a title but i like this song!)
> 
> thanks for all the feedback on my first work! i appreciate it!
> 
> i hope you enjoy this one as well

The Bureau of Balance was an incredible organization.

The massive, moon-like base was built in less than a year and yet it supported just under a hundred staff members full time _with_ benefits. The people of the Bureau did fantastic, improbable work with regards to finding, capturing, and destroying Relics on a consistent basis. Everyone who worked there felt at home, like a family almost. People like Taako, who grew up without one, didn't like to think about that part.

Said wizard was braiding his hair quickly in the mirror above his dresser, impatiently tapping the toe of his ankle-booted foot on the floor. The Tres Horny Boys got word first thing that morning about a new magical artifact found a fourth of the way around the globe and Taako refused to waste any time in going to retrieve it.

Ask Taako to be honest and he would say he wanted to get back to his room and "take a nap A-fuckin'-SAP." Cast Zone of Truth on him and he would spasm and choke out that he was excited to show Angus McDonald, Boy Detective, some more wizard magic close up.

After a moment paused in his braiding to scratch his nose, Taako finished plaiting his hair down over his shoulder and tied it off. Angus _insisted_ that he come with the three of them, since the mission would interrupt his lesson with Taako that morning. If it weren't actually an emergency Taako might have thrown his Stone of Far Speech into the toilet for Angus calling him so _fucking_ early in the morning.

The small legion of Seekers spread across the base and planetside all agreed on the potential danger of this artifact; theoretically, it was enough to send out their top three Reclaimers to go and retrieve the item instead of a team of Regulators to go and _kill_ the wielder. Thankfully the artifact and wielder were hiding out somewhere with no civilians--not like the three of them ever considered lost lives a complication to their missions.

When Taako swept out of his room, Magnus and Merle were already gone, probably up with Avi on the launch pad and day-drinking. He put on his hat and cloak and swung his umbra staff toward the door as he left to lock it behind him, and then made his way up to the dormitories with a spring in his step.

Not one of the Reclaimers was upset when Seekers sent information about minor magical artifacts that needed to be captured and destroyed with the same urgency as Relics. There were certainly more than seven of them, and they popped up frequently enough that it was good to keep their numbers down. Regulators didn't see a problem with hunting down those that intended to use these items with the same doggedness as they did actual Relic users. The whole organization was a bit bloodthirsty, Taako thought, a wry twist to his mouth.

The top floor of the living quarters contained the Seekers' rooms. When Taako reached Angus' door, the little detective wasn't standing just outside it as he expected. "Agnes?" Taako called softly while using the handle of his umbra staff to knock. Angus didn't have to share the room, thank Istus; if he did, Taako would have raised hell no matter how much he pretended he couldn't stand the kid. Taako shared a lot of rooms in his youth with a lot of people he shouldn't have…. He shook that thought out of his head and called again, "Boy wonder, you shouldn't be _packing_ packing…."

"Yes sir, I'm done!" Angus pulled the door open, revealing a pristine bedroom and his own blinding grin. "I'm excited to be joining you, sir!"

Taako ushered him out and closed his door behind him, letting Angus lock it. "Yeah," he drawled in a low voice, "Reclaiming's not as fun as you think. You were on the train with us, you know how shitty it gets."

Angus trotted ahead on their way to the launch pad for the glass spheres while Taako spoke; Taako was a little bit worried about how much shit he was bringing with him, but if Angus could carry it all, so be it. Whatever got too heavy would be pawned off to Magnus. "But I didn't help with the fighting, sir!" Angus reasoned. "I was just helping to solve the mystery!"

Something ugly passed through Taako's heart and he reached forward to catch Angus by the shoulder and spin him around. "You will _not_ ," he stressed, looming over Angus, "Be fighting."

"It's only a minor item--"

"Doesn't matter." Taako took a deep breath before crouching down to Angus' height, trying to appear less threatening overall. "Bubeleh, it's too dangerous out there for you to be in combat. We agreed to let you come along for the detective-y part, just for practice, but--"

Angus' eyes went wide and sparkling. "Sir? Do you… care about me?"

Taako stood abruptly and strode off on legs much longer than Angus'. "Let's not go that far," he said overtop of Angus' quick steps behind him.

* * *

"You're really that excited?" Merle asked rhetorically, watching Angus press his face up against the glass of the sphere as they flew over the west of Faerün. Taako rolled his eyes and pointed to Magnus, who was doing the same thing on the opposite side.

"Do you think we'll see any cool animals?" Angus turned toward Taako, who was sitting at the "driver's" seat with his hand on the brake lever. "Like that big crab?"

"Not exactly a 'cool' animal, little man, but maybe," Taako replied lightly. Just as they started to pass over the Sea of Swords toward the mainland, he pulled the brake, sending them more down than forward into a massive canopy of trees.

Angus seemed a bit sick and dizzy when the sphere landed. Magnus helped him off magnanimously, maybe a little more rough than the kid could handle, but Angus was just as smiley as before after a few minutes. "Oh, sirs," he said softly, tilting his head back and looking up.

Taako stuck the end of his umbrella in the ground and looked up as well. Except for the small hole their glass sphere pierced through the canopy, the sun was almost blackened out by the huge trees above them. This part of Faerün was deep in a very hot, very wet summer, so the leaves of the trees were a deep lush green. Taako wondered if the humans in their party could see anything except for the very small circle of light over their sphere.

He cast Prestidigitation and formed two little orbs in front of Magnus and Angus, lighting a bit of the way for them as they moved further into the forest. Magnus laughed loudly and patted his shoulder in thanks while Angus reached up and took his sphere into his hands, gazing at it with the same sort of wonderment he did for the trees.

From Seeker intel, they knew that the minor object and its user were hiding on the south side of the Velen forest, about an hour's walk from their drop point. The area wasn't all that large, yes, but Merle made it very clear that he doubted just how long Angus could walk without "whining and complaining." Magnus promised to carry him if it got that bad but so far Angus looked fine.

"Do you think they're nice?" Magnus asked suddenly.

After pretending he didn't jump a little bit, Taako turned to him and frowned, twisting the handle of his umbra staff in both hands. "Who's nice? The person with the object?"

"Yeah! I mean, maybe we can ask for the object and they'll give it to us!"

"Magnus, when has that ever happened?" Merle asked with laughter in his voice.

"Well, I don't know! Maybe now's the time!"

While they bickered, Taako placed one hand on Angus' shoulder, slowing him down from the excited sprint he was building up to. "Woah, bubeleh, keep with the pack," he murmured. "You're small enough to get eaten without us noticing." 

Angus actually looked worried at Taako's warning and slowed considerably, fumbling with his light sphere. "Do you really think so, sir?"

Taako opened his mouth to answer, closed it, and then said, "No," in a very unconvincing voice. Angus didn't ask any more questions.

Eventually, the forest started to lighten. It was a faint, purplish glow, and the canopy was still as thick as ever, so it wasn't a hard conclusion to come to that they had found their object. Magnus pushed Angus behind him and the boy detective didn't protest. He was a lot quieter now that they were actually up on the object and whoever was wielding it, despite his bravery on the train. Maybe Taako should have laid off on the ghost stories.

"Hail and well met!" Magnus shouted at the source of the light. It shifted and got stronger for a moment, enough for all of them to shrink back and cover their eyes. 

"Who's there?" a shadowy figure near the light shouted right back. Taako couldn't immediately place the voice but the accent sent a chill through him. Whoever this was, they were from the badlands to the north. Taako was the last to judge a book by its cover he had only become more cautious over the months working at the Bureau. Better to be safe than sorry, he always said (he didn't always say this).

Magnus passed Angus to Merle, who patted the boy's arm rather reassuringly before standing in front of him. Taako held his umbra staff a bit tighter and called, "Doesn't matter, dude! Give us the crystal!"

This was supposed to be an easy mission. _The person who wielded the artifact had no idea of its power,_ they said. _They didn't even know the spells and commands to use it,_ they said. But Taako watched with his own two eyes as the light sputtered out and then exploded, revealing a small, slight figure in great billowing robes, pulsing with light. Merle had already summoned Della Reese in front of himself and Angus, and Taako held up his umbra staff.

"You don't understand. I _need_ this power," the figure hissed in a cold voice. "I have a mission to complete!"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it, buddy," Magnus replied snidely. He hefted Railsplitter and the figure held up their hand, conjuring a small flame. They threw it toward Magnus and a fire elemental slammed to the ground where it once was. Taako took the initiative to cast Fire Shield on Magnus before sending Magic Missile back toward the figure.

Merle did his best to protect Magnus while he did hand-to-hand while Taako concentrated on the wielder. They were a strong wizard in their own right, but Taako was definitely stronger, and successfully prevented the figure from summoning another elemental. Just as he started to cast Ray of Frost, six Magic Missiles broke his concentration and he stumbled back with a critical miss. That gave the figure the opportunity to shoot _something_ toward Angus, who Taako saw out of the corner of his eye lean around Merle and aim his crossbow at the figure.

"Fuck," Taako spat, and then cast Wall of Force in a sphere around Angus. The sphere immediately shattered as the figure's Disintegrate slammed into it, and Taako saw red.

"Hey, shithead!" he shouted, doing a very uncharacteristic bit of "rushing in" with the umbra staff raised. " _Don't touch my kid_." Taako cast Fireball at the figure and watched the massive sun-like sphere hit them, sending them up in flames instantaneously. He could hear the fire elemental pause in its grunts while it fought Magnus, who took the opportunity to behead it cleanly with Railsplitter. 

The light went out. The figure didn't stand up again.

"Sir?" Angus called in a shaky voice.

Taako, feeling completely drained and a little singed from the hits he'd taken, turned around to reassure Angus he was fine and dandy. Except, when he raised his hand to wave, it pulled something around his stomach very oddly. The wizard looked down, raising his hands to his midsection and dropping the umbra staff in the process.

Taako exhaled sharply and dropped to his knees. "Fuck," he said again, much quieter. He wasn't too afraid, he knew Merle could heal a wound like this no problem, and they had plenty of Health Potions thanks to Angus' planning. The pain still hadn't hit so he tried to mitigate it by leaning over the wound and holding his stomach tightly.

Angus must not have known about Taako's relatively high HP for a wizard. The boy detective wasn't squeamish around the engineer's beheaded and behanded form on the Rockport Limited, so Taako figured gore wasn't a big deal for him. Intel was wrong about that, too.

"Sir? Sir!? _Taako!!_ " Angus' scream was so absolutely pained that Taako felt a phantom of it around his wound. Short, quick steps ran up toward him, and then Angus was looking up at him with tears streaking down his dirty face, probably from dust kicked up with the wielder's Disintegration spell. "Taako, p-p-please, I'm s-s-so- _sorry_ ," he cried wildly, his hands hovering over Taako's rapidly bloodying ones. "I'm just a s-s-stupid kid, Taako, _please!_ "

Merle came up beside him much slower and gently pushed Angus away and into Magnus' arms, where, instead of turning toward Magnus to sob up against him, he struggled against his hold to get back to Taako. Merle didn't say anything, just put a hand on the end of the long spear the former wielder threw at him with Telekinesis. It wasn't that wide around, but Taako could tell by the tugs against his back that it was barbed.

"Shit, just do it," Taako sighed, totally resigned to his fate. Merle started to pull at the spear and Taako shuddered, leaning on his hands and knees and coughing blood. 

"I know, lad," Merle hummed as he worked. He healed Taako as he pulled the spear out until there was just a bloody wizard on all fours in front of them, breathing more steadily.

Merle beckoned to Magnus for a Health Potion; the human released Angus to reach into his bag and the boy shot forward, wrapping trembling arms around Taako. "I'm sorry," he keened, and Taako raised his equally-shaking hands to squeeze Angus against him, stroking his hair and shushing him.

"I'm fine, motek," sighed Taako. Magnus handed him the potion and he reached up with one hand to take it, still gently rocking Angus while he drank it down. He didn't feel instantly better or anything but he didn't feel like dying anymore, which was always a plus.

There was a chuckle and Taako lifted his eyes to Merle. " _Your_ kid?" he mouthed. Taako had just enough energy left to drop the empty potion flask and give Merle the finger.

* * *

As ordered, the three of them (plus Angus) returned the artifact to the Director. She looked a little worried about Taako's general state of distress--even a few Prestidigitations to clean the blood off his robes was out of his reach at the moment--and the tear tracks down a dusty Angus' face, but seemed to think the fact that the two were holding hands meant everything would be alright.

She leaned back against her desk, resting her white oak staff beside her. "Well, boys," she said in that soothing way of hers, "Congratulations. And you, Angus." Taako's grip tightened on Angus' hand while he looked up from his blank stare and nodded at her, not even attempting to smile. "The job of a Reclaimer is a perilous one. Have faith in those we have." Angus nodded again.

Magnus almost immediately peeled off to go see Carey, probably to tell her all about the battle and make himself seem like he did more than he _actually_ did. Merle waited by the door to the Director's office, claiming he had to talk to her about something, and the other two left him to his own business.

That left Taako, and Angus, who hadn't let go of Taako's hand. The wizard took a deep breath and then crouched in front of Angus so they were of a more similar height. "Listen, pumpkin," Taako said quietly, "It's barely noon, but my plan was to sleep this off." Angus nodded like that’s what he expected to hear; he couldn't hold Taako's gaze for more than a second at a time before it skittered away, over Taako's shoulder or at his feet. Taako smiled a bit sadly at him, and then said, "Why don't you go back and get cleaned up, and meet me down at my room, hm?"

"Yes, sir," Angus rasped, and disentangled his hand from Taako's.

Taako stood up and watched him walk away, looking every bit the child he didn't want to be seen as, and then went to the cafeteria to pick up some supplies. Two paper cups of hot chocolate and a bag full of brownies later, Taako went down to his shared suite and set everything down on his bedside table.

He attempted to make his bed look a bit cleaner than he left it that morning and then quickly stripped and took a scalding hot shower. Usually, post-mission time was spent in a warm bubble bath with a very large glass of wine, but he got into more comfortable clothes as quickly as possible without straining his midsection too much and waited by the door.

While he himself wasn't scarred--physically or emotionally--by the mission, he could tell Angus was one push from a complete breakdown. Taako had seen people he idolized die at his feet as a child, much younger than Angus by Elven standards, and been made to get over it faster than anyone could be expected to. Angus didn't see Taako _die_ but he did see him mortally wounded and even the emotionally stunted wizard knew he deserved to be comforted.

Angus was a sweet kid. He loved Taako, for whatever fucked up reason, and between silver-tongued goofs Taako could admit he loved Angus too. To himself, at least.

The knock he was waiting for came in a few minutes, hesitant and light, as if Angus would turn and leave if Taako didn't open the door within a few seconds. Sure enough, when Taako swung the front door open, Angus was facing away from him with his arms wrapped around his chest, looking very small. "Ango?" Taako called, and when Angus glanced back, Taako beckoned him in.

"Sorry about this, sir," Angus murmured, following Taako into the sitting room. "I don't mean to keep you up."

Taako waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, bubeleh. D'you want to go to my room or would you be more comfortable out here?"

Angus looked up at Taako curiously. "I don't need a nap. I'm not a baby," he insisted, and then blinked frantically. "Sir."

"Well _I_ do." Taako flicked a curl that came free from his bun away from his eyes. "In there? Or out here?" Angus tilted his head toward Taako's open door and Taako followed him into his room. He left the door open when they came in, pushing it further toward the wall and letting Angus take the side of the bed nearest to it.

"I'm sorry, sir. I know I shouldn't have come with you all today. I was a distraction." While Angus apologized in a monotone, Taako handed him a cup of hot chocolate and sat up against the headboard with him. Angus paused to frown down at the drink and Taako took the opportunity to speak.

"No more apologies, pumpkin. You didn't do anything wrong." Angus nodded to himself and leaned carefully up against Taako's side; the wizard wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him closer. "I think it's time for a little Caleb Cleveland, don't you?" Taako could see the edge of Angus' smile from where he was pressed against Taako's chest and knew he made the right choice.

Angus fell asleep within the first chapter of the book. Taako took the cup from him and set it aside before continuing to read the book to himself, one hand gently stroking Angus' mess of curls to keep him calm as he slept.


End file.
